Baseball Game Preview: Oscar Smith Tigers vs. Indian River Braves

The Oscar Smith Tigers will head out to take on the Indian River Braves at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.

Oscar Smith easily dispatched King's Fork on Thursday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. The Tigers fell just short of Grassfield by a score of 4-2 on Tuesday. Having soared to a lofty 13 runs in the game before, the Tigers couldn't push the score so high this time.

Braden Copeland made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went a perfect 3-for-3 with one home run and one double. That home run marked the first that he has launched this season.

Meanwhile, Indian River was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They came up short against Great Bridge, falling 16-6.

Kalvin Murphy was cooking despite his team's loss, going 1-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

With the loss, Oscar Smith broke their three-game winning streak and moved their record to 8-7. As for Indian River, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-11.

Indian River's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Thursday. Oscar Smith has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.5 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Indian River, though, as they've been averaging only 3.7 strikeouts. Will Oscar Smith keep running through batters, or will the Braves buck the trend?

Oscar Smith skirted past Indian River 2-1 in their previous matchup back in April. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Tigers since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.